Highspot merging with rival Seismic in major sales software deal

Seattle-based company Highspot plans to merge with Seismic in a deal that will combine two of the biggest players in sales and revenue enablement software.

The companies announced Thursday that they’ve signed a definitive agreement to merge. Once the transaction closes, the combined company will operate under the Seismic name and be led by Seismic CEO Rob Tarkoff, who was hired in October. Highspot founder and CEO Robert Wahbe will join the board of directors of the combined company.

Permira, the private equity firm that has backed San Diego-based Seismic since 2020, will remain the controlling shareholder. The companies will operate independently until the deal closes. The platforms “will continue to be supported thereafter,” according to a press release.

The deal effectively places Highspot under Seismic’s leadership and brand. Additional terms were not disclosed. We’ve followed up with the companies to learn more about any potential workforce impact and where the combined company will be headquartered.

The merger brings together two longtime competitors in the revenue enablement market. Their software is designed to help sales, marketing, and customer success teams manage content, training, analytics, and performance.

“There is a growing demand for technologies that better connect sales strategy to execution and help organizations drive consistent revenue performance at scale, especially in today’s go-to-market environment,” Tarkoff wrote on LinkedIn.

In the press release, Wahbe said the deal will let the combined company “move the revenue enablement space forward” by giving customers “more innovation” and “more insights leading to actions.”

Highspot is one of Seattle’s most prominent enterprise software companies and has raised $650 million since launching in 2011. It’s held the No. 1 spot on the GeekWire 200, our list of privately held technology companies in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, and employs more than 1,000 people, according to LinkedIn data.

The company’s most recent publicly disclosed valuation was $3.5 billion in 2022, when it raised $248 million.

Highspot went through layoffs twice in 2023 amid a larger tech slowdown.

Highspot’s valuation in 2022 came at the peak of the software boom. Since then, venture funding has tightened and valuations across the tech sector have reset. PitchBook noted that many once high-flying “unicorns” have seen valuations fall below the $1 billion mark as capital becomes more concentrated. Established enterprise software companies are also under scrutiny amid the AI boom.

B Capital Group and D1 Capital Partners led Highspot’s Series F round in 2022. Other backers include ICONIQ Growth, Madrona Venture Group, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Tiger Global Management.

Wahbe is a former longtime employee at Microsoft, where he spent 16 years equipping sales teams with necessary information to craft customer pitches. He founded the company in 2011 with former colleagues Oliver Sharp and David Wortendyke.

Seismic, founded in 2010, is best known for its Seismic Enablement Cloud. It reached a $3 billion valuation in 2021 and serves around 2,000 customers worldwide.

Highspot’s customers include Compass, Nasdaq and Stripe. The company said in November that it had more than 40 customers with 5,000 sales representatives each. Its largest deployment exceeded more than 50,000 end users.